A Young Mayor Pushes Reform

You said you want to make Seoul a global and business-friendly city. What are Seoul's assets for that?
By global standards, Seoul has a modern, high-tech basic infrastructure. Most importantly, Seoul is very safe and has a mayor who wants to make the city business-friendly. We want to accept foreigners like they are family. In Seoul, we have already various initiatives to create that kind of atmosphere. We want to be friendly to foreigners, and that is probably the best advantage we can have.

What lessons of leadership did you bring with you from your earlier legal career?
It is difficult to say that I have learned a lot about leadership in my career as a lawyer. But the driving force behind my entry into the National Assembly was my history of participation in civic organizations. I was deeply involved in environmental groups and learned to interpret what the society needs. As you engage in civic organizations, you feel thirsty because there are limitations on what you can do there. That is why you decide to go into politics.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, your predecessor as mayor, has seen his popularity fall fast since his election. What have you learned from this?
The new government of President Lee had communication problems, although it had a good vision. Koreans are very sensitive. No matter how good policies are, they resist if they are not persuaded enough. The initial policies of the government were good, but people were disappointed with the way it communicated. On top of that, we had the financial crisis that led to a rapid decrease in his popularity. But I believe his popularity will go up when people start to see the results of his policies.

What do you want to be judged on when you seek re-election for mayor in 2010?
I am very happy with what I have achieved so far. I am on the right track and we are seeing some results. Seoul will fail if we lose this momentum. This is the right time for my kind of leadership. I want to be judged on whether I successfully change the working environment of the city government. If I have created a working environment where public officials try new things, I should be recognized as a successful mayor.

© 2008